Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day 2013 is upon us, the weekend that tends to be the swan song of summer around these parts. From here on out it is a long slog down into the depths of winter. I've also extended the normal 3 day weekend into a full blown week of vacation as my list of tasks to get done around the house has grown quite long, especially with the birthday party for the little one coming up next weekend.

Earlier this week I kegged the Pale Tranquility so that it will be available for the party next weekend. Putting it in the keg on Wenesday only allowed for 11 days to carb up, at normal serving pressure that has usually not been enough for the beer to be at its prime. As a consequence I upped the pressure to around 30 lbs to speed it up a little bit. I don't want to over carb so I pulled a sample this evening and it is doing very well. At this point I'd put it close to 90% of what I'm looking for, so I turned it back down to serving pressure and will consider it good. One more week at normal pressure and it will be at that sweet spot that I love.

Oh, and for how it tastes, pretty damn good if I do say so myself especially given that it was an American Pale recipe that I built mostly from available grains that I had on hand. The only ingredient I had to pick up was 1 oz of Simcoe for flavoring, I reused the yeast from a prior batch of Sky Blue.

One of the more enjoyable tasks that is on the list is to take up the brew club challenge of cloning Stone's Arrogant Bastard. I had planned to brew it this coming Sunday morning, but the weather forcast is not looking good so it looks like it will be pushed to Monday morning. Close enough. I've yet to settle on the recipe for the clone, a bit of research is in order to find out what I already have on hand and what I'll need to complete the brew. The next brew after that is also in the planning stages. Our club has volunteered to help out with a fundraiser the first weekend of November, all German style beers. I've volunteered to supply a Dunkleweizen. It'll be my first, but it's a style I like so will be happy to showcase to the public and enjoy the rest.

Another project I'm hoping to complete this week is the ribcage immersion chiller that I've been wanting to make for quite some time. I have all the necessary hardware already sitting around I just haven't had the time to put it all together. If I can get to it on Sunday it'll be ready to use on Monday for the clone.

Cheers